Tesco records strongest sales growth in 6 years in Ireland

Tesco Ireland recorded a market share of 21.9 per cent in the 12 weeks ended March 25th. Photograph: Getty Images

Tesco in Ireland recorded its strongest sales growth in over six years but it still falls below SuperValu and Dunnes Stores in terms of market share.

Sales at the UK-headquartered grocery retailer increased 7.1 per cent in the 12 weeks ended March 25th, figures from Kantar Worldpanel Ireland show.

Douglas Faughnan, consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel, said “encouraging shoppers to splash out and spend more every time they shop has proved the key to Tesco’s success”.

“Despite a strong performance, Tesco was unable to edge in front of Dunnes Stores and SuperValu,” he added.

Supervalu has returned to the top spot, tied with Dunnes, for the first time since October 2017, with both retailers securing a joint market share of 22.1 per cent. Tesco, meanwhile, recorded market share of 21.9 per cent.

German discounter Lidl edged in front of its rival Aldi by increasing its market share to 11.5 per cent on the back of strong sales growth of 4.7 per cent. Aldi’s market share in the period fell to 11.3 per cent.

Separately, Kantar found that Irish consumers stocking up their cupboards during the so-called beast from the east helped grocery sales push up 3.8 per cent in the period.

With shoppers spending €20.33 more than usual on restocking their kitchens in the week following the cold snap, the heavy snowfall made little impression on overall sales, figures from Kantar Worldpanel Ireland show.

Additionally, this year saw consumers pick up Easter eggs and season chocolate confectionary in their droves and sales of the goods rocketed 75.2 per cent compared to the same time last year. Irish shoppers spent a total of €20.6 million on Easter related chocolate by March 25th. This isn’t directly comparable with 2017, however, considering Easter Sunday fell on April 16th.

Kantar monitors the household grocery purchasing habits of 5,000 representative households. Their data shows that the price of goods in the grocery market sector fell 0.4 per cent in the period.